She Kinna Take Enna More, Captain!

[Physicist Gerald] Smith is looking to store positrons in a quasi-stable form called positronium. A positronium “atom” (as physicists dub it) consists of an electron and antielectron, orbiting each other. Normally these two particles would quickly collide and self-annihilate within a fraction of a second — but by manipulating electrical and magnetic fields in their vicinity, Smith hopes to make positronium atoms last much longer.

Smith’s storage effort is the “world’s first attempt to store large quantities of positronium atoms in a laboratory experiment,” Edwards (Note: Kenneth Edwards, director of the “revolutionary munitions” team at the Munitions Directorate at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida.) noted in his March speech. “If successful, this approach will open the door to storing militarily significant quantities of positronium atoms.”

And if unsuccessful, well, the good news is we won’t have to worry about global warming anymore.